Cleaning up

     The Shower in our project house was what could best be described as awful. The previous owner might have gotten a used tub surround somewhere and retrofitted it. Just fill the old holes for the shower with caulk and you are good. Of course it could be it was a new surround and they cut the holes in on the wrong end. That is the most likely scenario, but I would like to think no one is that, oh how can I put this, inept, if you notice the holes are the mirror image of the faucets and spout. Ouch that had to hurt.

There was no way we could even think about leaving this and we pull out a lot of old tub surrounds and tile the walls.

I was down at Menards buying windows for the house and picked up the bone colored tile we put in our houses.

Unloaded the tile (they are incredibly heavy for such little boxes) and stacked them in the bathroom, ready to go when I got to that point.

     But then I went along to Des Moines when Sharon had her blood tests run. She thought we should stop by the DAV thrift store. Sure thats a good idea I said. I have no clue why Sharon would ever want me to go into a store with her. When we had just started dating many long years ago, she thought we should go to a mall in Des Moines and spend the evening shopping. As we walked back out of that mall a short time later Sharon said, "I have never been in and out of a mall so fast in my life." I don't shop, not on my list of things I do. 

     As we were about to leave the thrift store one of the men working there asked if I need any tile. No, I said they are blue. He looked at the price and said " they are priced too high at $24.95. How about $20. My reply was "they are still blue." He said "You know I think $12.00 would be about the right price.". My reply was, "I don't know, Sharon, do you think we could use blue tile?" His quick answer was I think $10.00 today would be about right." I am thinking at this point, that they were a lovely shade of blue. He sold them to us for $9.95.

So yesterday afternoon and this morning I installed blue tile. They still need to be washed off and grouted, but at least I have a good start on getting the shower cleaned up.

     I only used 112 tile and have 139 left. That means we are going to have to buy 2 houses that need the shower tiled. One to use the rest of the blue tile and one to use the bone colored tile I bought for this house.

     On Thursday I saw the weather forecast and thought this is my best day to get those living room windows out and replaced. They would not close and were far too close to the floor. You could tell the windows were crooked because they sealed on the west side but not on the east side. I assumed the house had settled but could not find where the basement wall had given way. It looks solid as a rock. They were also a "fall hazard" for small children. You do not want a fall hazard when an inspector comes around.  

     I always assume when they frame in a window or a door the studs will be plumb. I assume someone had a level. That appears to be a stupid assumption on my part. The house had not settled. Whoever framed in the windows had the studs off level by about 2 inches. I am guessing it might have been the same person who put in the tub surround. A little problem with spacial concepts. 

With those 2 windows in, I have 6 of the 8 replacement windows installed, and they are all in square and level. That's another mess cleaned up.

On Friday morning I backed the pickup up to the house and started loading out the deconstruction debris. 

     It was getting to be such a mess I couldn't even walk through the house and the outside was getting too many piles of junk. I was starting to worry I was going to get notice from the city to get it cleaned up. I saw the fire department was driving through the neighborhood on Thursday and stopping to take notes and pictures of houses with a lot of junk around them. Didn't really want to be explaining that it was a work in progress and getting checked that all permits are in place. And yes, we have applied for permits when required on this house. I am not fond of inspectors randomly wandering around looking for issues. It is best to just be ahead of the game and keep it cleaned up.

     I meet a lot of people who make me think they need to clean up their life. It looks messy from the outside and I am sure it is messy looking at it from the inside as well. Their relationships are in disarray. Their employment is sketchy at best. They are sometimes self medicating and yes that includes too much alcohol. The truth seems to be concept that is foreign to them. 

     I could judge their life with out getting involved and think they are a mess, but me, I am pretty cleaned up. Problem with that is I don't know what they are dealing with by just making judgments from a distance. I also don't see how messy my life is the same way God sees it. The other day I was thinking on the people I know where I see God working in their lives. God reaching out to them in amazing ways. That doesn't mean they are listening at this point, but I really see God reaching out to them. These are some people with really messy lives. 

     I was wondering, why is God touching them and not the people I know, who even though they are not professing Jesus as their savior are living moral lives. I know it is only a small snapshot I am seeing, and I may not be seeing God working in the lives of the moral unbelievers even though He is. I still have to say God loves sinners. I see God calling the worst of sinners. Christ Jesus came into the world to save the worst of sinners. Put me on that list. I would rather be a saved sinner than a self satisfied good person who doesn't need to be cleaned up.